National Vegetarianism Day: Non-vegetarians Welcome.

Sometime this summer, I wrote a post for Facebook that went a little something like this: “Rebecca Grazulis is officially declaring her vegetarianism. The wishy-washiness had to end.”

My indecision over this choice was getting pretty ridiculous. For about a year, I had eaten almost no meat or fish. In fact, the only meat meals I was eating were “convenience meals,” as a friend of my calls them. “Convenience meals” are meals eaten because the people you are with are meat-eaters.

Truly, my transformation into a pretty decent vegetarian was slow. Like many other realizations I’ve had, I’ve fought it tooth and nail. Me? A vegetarian? My grandfather was a butcher, for goodness sake.

It’s hard to let go of something, particularly something that has been yours for some time. The fact that it isn’t working for you doesn’t seem to make it any easier. Letting go involves making some potentially humbling statements:

I give up.

I don’t know.

Maybe I was wrong.

It also involves accepting that you have changed, that you need to take a different path. And that can be scary, for we always think that what we do is who we are.

Now, I am not a judgmental vegetarian. In fact, there are times when I doubt my choice. But I know that, for now, it is a choice that is aligned with my desire to let things go and live more mindfully. I’ll also admit that I’ve slipped up a few times over the past few months. Despite that, I now have the peace of knowing that my beliefs and my actions are aligned – at least in this case.

October 1st was National Vegetarianism Day, and I’m sure there were many people that day who finally also declared their vegetarianism and let go of an old way of life.

My view of vegetarianism continues to evolve, and perhaps in a few years I’ll be far more militant about it. For now, I’ll simply say that it was the right change for me, and I hope you, my readers, are making mindful changes that are right for you.

Rebecca Grazulis is a Chicagoan, a vegetarian (yes, you can be both), a wanna-be yogi and a former high school English teacher in a period of career exploration. You can e-mail her at [email protected] or visit her website.

I’m impressed, I must say. Actually not often do I encounter a weblog that’s both educative and entertaining, and let me tell you, you’ve gotten hit the nail on the head. Your thought is excellent; the issue is something that not enough individuals are speaking intelligently about. I’m very blissful that I stumbled throughout this in my seek for one thing referring to this.